COASTAL REGIONS COOLED BY WINDS

Winds from the northeast fanned cool air over Palm Beach County Wednesday, giving most residents a break from the 90-degree-plus temperatures that have blanketed the area since the weekend.

The mercury along the coastal areas of the county stayed below 90 degrees for the first time in several days, with a high of 86 degrees reported in the West Palm Beach area.

Meteorologist Steve Letro, of the South Florida Water Management District, said the cool air that rescued Palm Beach County from record-high temperatures was blown inland from the ocean by 15 mph winds.

"The water is nature's thermostat for South Florida," Letro said. "The ocean cools us off."

While coastal portions of the state were cooled by ocean breezes, inland areas did not get much of a reprieve.

A heat health alert for most of the inland and western portions of the state remained in effect, with 103-degree temperatures reported in Tallahassee.

In Tampa, the temperature climbed to 99 degrees, marking the hottest temperature ever recorded in that city.

U.S. Weather Service officials said conditions are likely to remain the same for most of the state, at least through today.

The break for Palm Beach County and other coastal areas, according to Letro, came from a slight shift in a high pressure area that has been stalled over the Gulf of Mexico.

Letro said winds from the high pressure area had been out of the northwest, blocking out the cooling ocean breezes.

When the high pressure system shifted, Letro said, the winds changed direction and brought the ocean breezes over the coastal land area.

While the ocean breezes provided relief from the heat, there has been no significant rainfall in the area.

Letro said it is hard to predict when the normal rainfall will return.

"We're in the rainy season," he said. "You have to figure that sooner or later things are going to right themselves."

The lack of rainfall, combined with the heat, has led to an increase in the demand for water.

Officials in Boca Raton said the city's water treatment plant pumped 45.6 million gallons on Monday.

"It was the most ever pumped in one day," said Cindy Martin, the city's water conservationist.

Martin said the city's backup water treatment plant had to be used this week to help meet demand. She said that was due in part to maintenance at the main treatment plant, which cut that facility's capacity.

Although there has been a high demand for water during the hot days this week, Martin said there have been no serious problems.

She said she did receive one complaint about low water pressure from a resident of the city's north end.

Martin said lawn sprinkling is accounting for a lot of water usage during the heat wave.

"A lot of people have automatic sprinklers all coming on at the same time," she said.

City officials are urging residents to set sprinkler systems to begin any time between midnight and 6 a.m.

Officials in Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach said their water usage also has increased, but did not create any problems.

Calton Heckerman, the director of utilities for West Palm Beach, said the water treatment plant pumped 27.2 million gallons on Monday, a substantial increase from the week before.

"We did hit the highest single day usage in several weeks," he said.

Bob Kenyon, a supervisor at the Boynton Beach water treatment plant, said peak usage times were between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. and then again between 4 p.m. and sunset.